2000 msb magazine fall winter

Taking Stock

FALL / WINTER 2000 volume 13 number 1Businesst h e r ob e rt e m m e t t mc d on o u g h s c ho ol of b u s i n e s s

Georgetown

Georgetown Business is published during the academic year by The McDonough School of Business for alumni, parents,friends, and business colleagues.

Dean Christopher P. Puto, Ph.D.

Senior Associate DeanJohn Mayo, Ph.D.

Editor Elizabeth Shine g’99

Contributing Writers Tom PriceSusan PriceElaine Ruggieri, APR

Designer Nancy Van Meter

Photographer Keith TishkenBob Llewellyn

Georgetown Businesswelcomes inquiries, updates,opinions and comments expressedby its readers. Letters should beaddressed to:

the editorGeorgetown Business

dean’s officegeorgetown universitythe mcdonough school of businessold north buildingwashington dc 20057

phone: 202-687-4080

www.msb.edu

WEL

CO

ME

LETTER FROM THE DEAN

Regular readers of Georgetown Business should begin to note a pattern as we

describe the McDonough School’s performance and discuss our prospects for the future.

Throughout the past three issues, we have chronicled a series of changes designed to

place us firmly among the world’s elite academic business programs.

A leader can only reflect the accomplishments of those he leads, and in this issue we

reflect upon some early indications that we are moving in the right direction. On page 6,

“Taking Stock” reports on the progress of our MBA program, including its placement in

this year’s Business Week ranking of the nation’s top MBA programs. Credit for our

progress goes appropriately to the faculty who are the driving force behind our creative

and value-laden curriculum, to the staff who recruit, counsel, and direct a talented group

of MBAs, and to the students themselves, who believe in what we are doing and who

work so hard to fulfill our expectations.

While we are pleased with our progress, we must continue the momentum. Other perhaps

more valid indicators of our advancement include the emerging plans for our new facility

(page 16) and the scholarly achievements of our faculty. In this issue, you will learn about

real options, an alternative method of evaluating potential projects that is gaining

increased recognition by corporations. The McDonough School is one of the few business

schools in the U.S. to offer a course on real options.

These articles highlight the McDonough School’s developments. Let us hear yours, so we

can continue to keep our finger on the pulse of progress.

Christopher P. Puto, Ph.D.

Dean

1

CONTENTS

Inside Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Taking Stock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Faculty Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Dividends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Alumni Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Corporate Representationat MBA Recruiting EventDoubles

More than 70 corpo-rate representativesflocked to campus

for the Sept. 8 Careers Extrav-aganza, up from 30 last year,making it the school’s largestrecruiting event to date.

Several improvements ini-tiated by Darnell Hoose, newassistant dean of MBA careermanagement, gave first-yearstudents more opportunities tointeract with corporate repre-sentatives so they “get an under-standing of what the world’s likefor MBAs,” Hoose says.

The effort to give individ-ual students more visibilitywith the corporate representa-tives paid off. “They wereimpressed with the substantialquestions the first-years askedthem, and the manner in

McDonough School Adds New Joint Degrees in Physics

Georgetown University’s graduate physics department isjoining with the McDonough School to create jointdegrees in physics and business.

Beginning next fall, students can complete a joint master’sdegree in physics and business administration in 33 months. Ajoint Ph.D./MBA will take six-and-a-half years and require a 12-month apprenticeship in industry. The joint degree programs willprepare students to meet the high demand for scientists who alsounderstand business, especially in new high-tech companies. Stu-dents taking conventional physics graduate degrees will take fourbusiness school courses.

“We believe this new industrial physics program representsthe most significant overhaul of graduate physics training in thenation, and that our graduates will be better prepared for careers inindustry,” says James Freericks, director of Georgetown’s physicsgraduate programs.

“We wanted to focus a graduate program that would help stu-dents make the transition from the academic world to the businessworld.”

Freericks says many graduates of physics programs say they“had trouble understanding how their company worked, the rolethey played, how to work in the teams most industrial projectsrequire. Those are the extra skills we’ve designed into this pro-gram.”

The degree programs will appeal not only to students inter-ested in traditional physics careers in systems engineering, indus-trial science and technical management, but also to those whowant to pursue administrative positions in finance, marketing andresearch, or entrepreneurial roles in high-tech start-ups.

The new physics and business program will be guided by anindustrial advisory board of business and education leaders. One ofthe board members, William Graver, vice president of ScienceApplications International Corp. in Northern Virginia, says“Industry needs more independent problem solvers, and the indus-trial physicist is the obvious answer.”

2 The McDonough School of Business

Inside Information

which the students presentedthemselves,” Hoose says, not-ing that “a lot of schools don’tlet first years meet withemployers,” fearing the newstudents haven’t yet absorbedthe proper etiquette for deal-ing with MBA recruiters. “Wesay you need to start from dayone to plan your career,”Hoose says.

Hoose also initiated anew panel that focused exclu-sively on marketing in thetechnology and telecommuni-cations industries. Representa-tives from AOL, IBM, andNextel participated.

Growing corporaterecognition of Georgetown’sMBA program is reflected inlast year’s recruiting statistics.Ninety-six percent of theClass of 2000 received a joboffer by graduation, up from88 percent the previous year.

McDonough Hosts International Forum

David A. Walker, director, Capital Markets Research Center; the Honor-

able Mary Schapiro, president, NASD Regulation, Inc.; and Professor

Reena Aggarwal at the sixth annual Alternative Structures for Securities

Markets conference. Ms. Schapiro was the keynote speaker at the con-

ference on Georgetown’s campus, September 21–22, 2000.

Going Global With the Job Search

Awhirlwind schedule of meetings with companies inMunich, Germany, marked the first EuroTrek forMcDonough School MBA students Sept. 27-Oct. 2.

A dozen second-year MBA students from the Georgetowncampus, plus two studying in Italy this term through an exchangeprogram, flew to Munich and went immediately to their first cor-porate visit at Allianz Asset Management. Other stops during thefive-day trip included the offices of Deutsche Bank, Booz-AllenHamilton, Siemens and Hypo Vereinsbank.

EuroTrek 2000 was sponsored by the Georgetown MBAEuropean Business Association, a graduate student club. The orga-nization’s mission is to provide students with career opportunities inEurope as well as to develop an alumni network there. More than40 percent of the school’s MBA students come from countries out-side the United States, and 30 percent of those come from Europe.

EuroTrek Director Alexander Fuerst (MBA ‘01) calls the trip“a total success,” in terms of fostering good relationships with thecompanies. Fuerst, a German native, says the company representa-tives were impressed with the Georgetown students and want toparticipate in future recruitment. “Some people on the trip alreadyhave job offers,” Fuerst adds. “And they asked us to send additionalresumes” of promising candidates who weren’t on the trip.

The invitations for companies to participate netted more thanthe students had time to visit. The organizers had to pare a list of25 firms down to five. The number of student participants was lim-ited, too, with only half the applicants selected. Students who couldspeak at least some German and plan to work in Europe upongraduation were given preference.

Because of the high student interest in EuroTrek and the suc-cess of the first venture, Fuerst says more are planned, including onein January in London.

Leonsis, Gardner, to Address Tech 2001 Conference

Plans to turn theMcDonough SchoolMBA annual technol-

ogy conference into a regionaltech event are underway, withthe addition of a career fairand invitations extended tostudents at 17 leading MBAprograms to participate.

“We want to expand theconference because the Wash-ington, D.C., area is secondonly to Silicon Valley in itsnumber of technology compa-nies,” says organizer SandraSzahun (MBA ‘01). “We wantto showcase what’s going onregionally and give studentsand area employers an oppor-tunity to interact.”

Keynote speakers for theCapital Technology Summit(formerly Tech 2000), to beheld Jan. 26–27, 2001, areTom Gardner, co-founder ofThe Motley Fool, a financialwebsite, and Ted Leonsis(C’77), president of AOLInteractive Properties Groups.Companies representedinclude Network Solutions,The Washington Post News-week Interactive, IBM andAmerican Management Systems.

3Fall /Winter 2000

The career fair featuresrepresentatives from over 100mid- to large-size technologyand new media companies,and venture capital and con-sulting firms. Organizersexpect the combined summitand career fair will attract upto 500 students from leadinguniversities with technology-based graduate programs.

“There is a growing desireby MBAs to work in the D.C.area, and the tech industry hasa real need for skilled employ-ees “ Szahun says. “We’re providing a forum for them to connect.”

The summit will also feature panels exploring cur-rent technology issues, such as Internet policy, broadbandand marketing.

“We have a locationaladvantage,” Ryan notes. “Thegreater Washington area is areal center for e-commercetechnology and thinking.”

Among the first group ofenrollees were managers fromLucent Technologies, Bechtel,Raython, and the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Several of thesemanagers want to providetechnology services and con-sulting to the federal govern-ment. Ryan says this interest“will lead us to create new pro-grams” that specifically addressthe business-to-governmentsector.

Enrollees attend sessionstwo Friday nights and twoSaturdays a month. Eachmonth covers a different topicas it affects e-commerce:strategy, marketing, intellec-tual property, supply chainmanagement and customersatisfaction. Enrollees can signup for the individual topics or all five.

They also are invited tojoin the Georgetown E-Com-merce Network, a group offaculty, practitioners and pre-sent and former enrollees whomeet for Saturday morningbreakfasts to hear a speakerand discuss the topic of the day.

Information on enrollmentcan be found at www.msb.edu/dept/execed/.

Motley Fool Co-FounderShares EntrepreneurialStrategies with MBAs

In a knowledge-based economy,valuing the intellectual capi-tal employees provide and

emphasizing continual learningare important components ingrowing a business, Motley Foolco-founder Tom Gardner toldMBAs in Professor ElaineRomanelli’s entrepreneurshipseminar October 5.

Gardner, who started the Motley Fool personal finance web-site with his brother David in 1993, stressed that a clear missionstatement at the outset is especially valuable, because it can attractgood personnel and foster the development of critical relation-ships. Writing a strong mission statement, infusing the enterprisewith core values, knowing the market and developing a sound eco-nomic game plan are also important, he said.

Entrepreneurs with flourishing businesses also understandhow to balance conflicting goals.

“Balancing both company value and customer value is criti-cal,” said Gardner. Noting that a company should simplify servicesfor customers, he added, “But, to sustainably please customers, anentrepreneur must have a business that scales, an economic modelwith merit. Too many Internet ventures have been built on cus-tomer, but not company, value.”

Gardner believes it is important for entrepreneurs to be pas-sionate about their business. “You have to be able to answer thequestion ‘Do I really love this?’” he said.

A successful entrepreneur may one day have to decide whetherto take the company public or remain private. Gardner noted thatsustainability is a critical ingredient before going public. “Once acompany goes public, its leaders have a responsibility to shareholdersto expand that business, limitlessly. Most Internet companies havenot entered the public markets with that sense of duty,” he said.

McDonough School OffersFirst E-Commerce Seminar

The McDonoughSchool launched itsfirst e-commerce

executive education programthis fall. The five-month cer-tificate program is designed to meet the needs of managersof well-established businessesseeking a presence in the e-commerce world as well asentrepreneurs in technologystart-up companies.

Michael P. Ryan, associateprofessor of strategy and policyand one of the program’s orga-nizers, says a recent speakershowed the enrollees a list of350 promising dot.com com-panies that had failed in theprevious six months.

“Often, they had goodideas, but they were technol-ogy driven, not managementdriven,” Ryan explains. “Theremust be analysis of why somany people are failing. Ourthinking is the time is right fora program based on manage-ment principles.”

The course is taught byMcDonough School faculty as well as practitioners fromarea technology-related companies. One of the practi-tioners, Damian Saccocio,senior strategic analyst atAOL Technologies, helpeddesign the program.


Inside Information

MBAs Calculate Costs ofFailed Searches for AOL

Ateam of sixMcDonough SchoolMBAs is helping

America Online solve a vexingproblem.The first-and second-year students are trying toidentify and quantify the costsresulting from a failed searchon the Internet.

“When your search does-n’t return what you expect itto, you might go to a competi-tor search engine or you mightbuy a product from someoneelse,” says Chris Hergesell(MBA ‘01), who is director ofconsulting projects for theGraduate Student ConsultingClub. The team members,who were selected from morethan 30 applicants, hope tocomplete their work byChristmas.

Hergesell says that work-ing with AOL “provides a bigopportunity to develop atighter relationship with oneof the area’s leading technol-ogy companies.”

Marketing professor KenHoma, who will be gradingthe students’ end product forcourse credit, says such con-

sulting projects not only teachstudents about the content ofthe problem they work on, but“are a terrific opportunity tosee inside the workings of acompany. The tasks tend to betough problems and as close tothe real work environment” asstudents can get. They receivetheir direction from real man-agers who will interrogatethem on their findings and askthem to defend their solu-tions, just like employees,Homa adds.

Some consulting projectshave led to jobs. Homa citesthe example of Procter &Gamble, which used George-town students to produce amajor study for their newbusiness development group.

“They wanted a bunch ofsmart people to work on theproblem in a focused way,”Homa says. P&G later hiredsome of the team membersupon their graduation. Otherstudents use their consultingproject experiences “as aspringboard to talk torecruiters about what they’veaccomplished,” Homa adds.

5Fall /Winter 2000

McDonough School MBA Program Ranks 26th in Business Week

The McDonough School of Business has joined the top tierin Business Week’s annual ranking of the nation’s best MBA programs. McDonough ranked 26th in the maga-

zine’s top tier of 30 programs, which was published in September.This year’s No. 1 ranking went to the University of Pennsylvania’sWharton School.

Dean Christopher P. Puto called the showing “a definingmoment in the school’s history.” It will serve as “a motivator topush our MBA program to higher levels,” he said.

Business Week compiles its rankings primarily from surveys ofgraduates and corporate recruiters, which it describes as the businessschools’ “customers.”This year, for the first time, it based 10 percentof the rankings on what it called the schools’ “intellectual capital”–how often each school’s faculty published in the most influentialscholarly and professional journals and how often their booksappeared on the Business Week bestseller list and were reviewed inBusiness Week, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

While such rankings are controversial, they do testify toMcDonough’s quality and they will help the school continue toimprove in the future, according to Puto and Associate DeanLawrence Abeln, director of graduate programs.

The Business Week ranking “establishes our external credibilityand says the things we have been doing are viewed positively,”Puto said.

Abeln said high rankings “have a significant impact onprospective students, current students, corporate recruiters, alumni,faculty and our ability to attract all of the above to our institution.”


Over the last two years, a seriesof initiatives to improve the McDonough Schoolhave been implemented.

What has been the payoff?One professor describes the changes

as a “virtuous circle” of improvement thatis carrying the institution into the elite ofU.S. business schools.

“I’m not sure where one enters the cir-cle,” says Professor Joseph B. Mazzola,chair of the graduate curriculum. Hepoints to Georgetown’s implementation ofthe revised MBA curriculum as “a majorstimulant,” along with the arrival of DeanChristopher P. Puto and the $30-milliongift from the school’s namesake, RobertEmmett McDonough (F’49)–all of whichoccurred in 1998.

“It’s a number of factors,” says Maz-zola. “The combination of a high-qualityundergraduate program that’s been inplace, together with the excellence ofGeorgetown University, the revision in theMBA curriculum, Mr. McDonough’s gen-erous gift, a new dean, some strategic hireson the faculty and staff, and it seems we’veobtained the critical mass necessary,” Maz-zola says.

Once the circle is spinning, he added,the school advances on the momentum.

“You get an improved curriculum,which becomes of interest to potentialapplicants, so the quality of the studentsgoes up,” he says. “The student body thenbecomes more attractive to faculty, so we’reable to retain good faculty and hire newfaculty from the top schools. With moreand better professors, you’re able to offermore and better courses. That thenimproves the overall reputation of theschool, and potential applicants see thatand the quality of the pool of applicantsincreases.”

Evidence abounds that all this is hap-pening, the most recent and prominentbeing McDonough’s inclusion in BusinessWeek’s ranking of the top 30 U.S. MBAprograms in September. McDonough’splacement at no. 26 followed top-30 rank-ings earlier in the year by Financial Timesand U.S. News & World Report.

One professor describes the

changes as a “virtuous circle”

of improvement that is carrying

the institution into the elite

of U.S. business schools.

The average starting salary for thisyear’s McDonough MBA graduates was$80,912, a seven percent increase from1999.Total average compensation for theclass, including starting salary, signingbonus and other guaranteed compensation,was $117,000. Ninety-six percent had joboffers at graduation, up from 88 percent theyear before.The number of companiesrecruiting on campus increased to 119 from108 in 1999. And in its January 2000 rank-ing of top ten-schools in each category, theFinancial Times ranked McDonoughMBAs as fourth in the salaries in financecategory and sixth in the salaries in infor-mation technology category.

While applications for admission totop MBA programs declined last year,according to a New York Times report,MBA applications to McDonough rose 50percent–to 2,875 this spring from 1,923 in1999. Selectivity heightened, as 19 percentof MBA applicants were admitted, com-pared with 34 percent in 1999. The yieldrate also rose, with 44 percent of admittedapplicants enrolling, up from 35 percentthe year before. The enhanced quality ofthe entering class was demonstrated inhigher average GMAT scores (655, upfrom 641) and average GPAs (3.4, anincrease from 3.2).

Taking StockBy Tom Price


When asked in a survey to rate theiroverall satisfaction with the MBA programon a 0-to-10 scale, this year’s graduatesawarded an average score of eight.

Dean Puto sees the recent achieve-ments as identifying an institution that’sbuilding on a “rock-solid base.”

“One of the reasons I was attracted toGeorgetown was the tremendous opportu-nity for rapid, sustainable progress,” he says.

Georgetown University not onlyenjoys an international reputation for aca-demic excellence, Puto says, it also adheresto the Jesuit tradition of teaching values aswell as skills, which helps McDonough todistinguish itself from many other businessschools.

“We’re in the business of creatinghighly-principled leaders of the globaleconomy,” he says. “We’re teaching themthe tools that everyone learns about how tomaximize profit. We’re adding a layer thatenables them to see more deeply what therole of business is in the greater society.”

Similarly, Washington is an ideal labo-ratory for business students–not just becauseit is the U.S. capital and the most importantpolitical city in the world, but also because ofits proximity to Northern Virginia’s leading-edge technology companies.

The new MBA curriculum–designedto give students practical experience inglobalism, teams, technology and otheressentials of 21st century business–wasready for implementation when Putoarrived. Among its innovations are intense,multi-disciplinary, reality-based learningexperiences–each a week long, with amandatory one-week residency overseas.

McDonough’s physical resources did-n’t match the turn-of-the-millennium cur-riculum, however. Puto set a goal of mov-ing the entire business school into a newbuilding by 2005. And he instituted a

quick temporary fix for the MBA pro-gram, renovating a floor of the historic CarBarn into a state-of-the-art facility in justnine months.

Puto also appointed a faculty-staffcommittee to conduct a nationwide searchfor a full-time MBA director. The com-mittee recommended Lawrence S. Abeln,director of the MBA program at MIT’sSloan School of Management, whobecame both a contributor to and evidenceof McDonough’s growing quality.

That a dean from a perennially top-rated business school chose to come toGeorgetown is a compliment toMcDonough–as are the decisions of sev-eral faculty to come to Georgetown fromhighly-regarded institutions recently (seepages 18–19). And Abeln brought a valu-able new perspective with him, Puto says.

“Welcoming different perspectives isimportant when you have an institutionthat’s been around for over 200 years,”Puto says. “You have some extraordinarilystrong and wonderful traditions after 200years. But the way you exist for another200 years is by building in the ability tocontinually broaden your vision.”

Like Puto, Abeln says he was drawnby McDonough’s potential and George-town’s Jesuit tradition.

McDonough can be agile–a valuableattribute in the modern business world–because it is relatively small and young,Abeln says. “Of almost any business school,Georgetown had the most underutilizedbrand name and there are great opportuni-ties to be successful here,” notes Abeln.

A business school should apply busi-ness principles to its own operations,Abeln believes. The institution’s “stake-holders”–students, faculty, staff, alumni,the business community–must feelinvolved. Students and potential employers

of graduates must be viewed as demandingcustomers. Potential students must be soldon the school’s value to them.

Abeln has initiated surveys to measurestudent opinion and meets regularly withstudent government officers. An advisoryboard supplies input from alumni andbusiness executives. To upgrade the qualityof incoming students, the school hasincreased the pool of applicants by makingrepeated recruiting pitches to potentialstudents who have indicated interest inMcDonough.

To upgrade academic life, the schoolis deploying technology to minimize stu-dent and faculty distractions that interferewith education. Students now can changeschedules online rather than by standing inline, for instance.

Students and faculty have noticed theprogress.

“I think it is growing from being theoffspring of a great institution to becomingone of the pillars of the institution,” saysTobin Richardson (MBA’00), former pres-ident of the MBA student government.

Richardson, whose class learned inboth the old and new MBA facilities, callsthe Car Barn “terrific in different ways.”

Georgetown University not

only enjoys an international

reputation for academic

excellence, Puto says, it also

adheres to the Jesuit tradition

of teaching values as well as

skills, which helps McDonough

to distinguish itself from many

other business schools.

9Fall / Winter 2000

“It’s a lot more comfortable,” he says.“It provides a lot more functional room forwork to get done. The technology is stateof the art.”

Jason Barker (MBA’01), current MBAstudent president, says he and his class-mates feel progress “all around us.”

“We see it in the curriculum, the facil-ities, the atmosphere, the recruiting oncampus and the quality of the incomingstudents as well,” he says.

The school helps students achieve a“global perspective,” which is “a very goodthing given the global nature of businesstoday,” Barker says. That occurs not just inclass but also through interaction amongthe MBA students, about 40 percent ofwhom come from more than 30 countries,he says.

The new curriculum, new facilitiesand growth all are important componentsof the improvement, according to Profes-sor Reena Aggarwal.

“You need to have a sort of criticalmass, in terms of both students and fac-ulty,” she says. “As faculty size has grown,we’re offering lots of interesting courses tothe students and we have become a verygood research faculty also.”

The international residencies are anotable aspect of the new MBA curricu-lum, she says, and the curriculum hasbecome much more flexible. As a result,“we’re able to address current businessissues far more rapidly.”

Puto says he is “extraordinarilypleased, but hardly satisfied,” with progressat McDonough to date–“because we haveto keep moving.”

In the media rankings, he says, “we’rein the lower end of that top tier, and wewant to be in the middle to upper range ofthe top tier.”

“We’re working to continue toimprove the quality of both the studentand faculty experience,” Puto says.

A new undergraduate curriculum isbeing implemented. The school willexpand its mid-career programs for execu-tives and its cooperative programs withother academic entities at Georgetown.Puto is committing resources for studying“how to be a leader in the use of technol-ogy to improve the quality of the educa-tional experience.”

The school is providing more supportfor faculty development, both in researchand teaching. One initiative for facilitatingresearch will enable faculty to schedulelarger exclusive blocks of time for focusingon research or teaching.

Puto wants to add about 15 full-timefaculty positions, including scholars withexpertise in e-commerce, information

technology and entrepreneurship. The sizeof the support staff also must be increased,Puto says, noting that administrators havebeen “achieving improved results with lessstaff.” Compared to similarly rankedschools in the 1999 U.S. News and WorldReport MBA rankings, each McDonoughadmissions staffer processed two to four-and-a-half times more applications andeach placement staffer worked with up totwice as many students.

Plans are being developed for theschool to move into a new, 200,000-square-foot, $75-million, technologically-sophisticated building on the main campuswithin five years.

“If you go to business schools aroundthe world these days,” Aggarwal notes,“they all have state-of-the-art buildings”.

“They’ve done it,” Dean Abelnexplains, “to attract students, to attract fac-ulty, and to incorporate technology.”

Mazzola views the planned newbuilding as one more contributor toMcDonough’s virtuous circle. Already, thenew Car Barn facility gives the school apsychological boost, he says.

“It shows first hand the 21st centurystrides this business school has taken, nes-tled within this historic 200-year-old cam-pus,” Mazzola says. “That contrast is asign, not of conflict, but of an institutionwith a tremendous history that is surgingforward into the future.”

“Welcoming different

perspectives is important when

you have an institution that’s

been around for over 200

years,” Puto says. “You have

some extraordinarily strong

and wonderful traditions

after 200 years. But the way

you exist for another 200 years

is by building in the ability

to continually broaden

your vision.”


In June 1998 electricity prices forparts of the Midwest jumped froman average of $40.00 to approxi-mately $7000.00 per megawatthour. Our purpose here is not to

address the reasons for such a stratosphericprice shift. Rather, we will address how theexistence of managerial flexibility in theface of uncertainty (e.g. price volatility) canprovide additional value to an investmentproject.

Nonetheless, this price surge, in com-bination with various industry specific fac-tors including but not limited to deregula-tion, non-storability, weather, and capitalintensity, have resulted in a consequentialincrease in electricity price volatility.

While the majority of utility compa-nies quiver at the very thought of pricevolatility, Enron has transformed it to aprofitable opportunity. Enron capitalizedon price volatility by exercising the flexibil-ity furnished through its “peaker plant”option strategy.

In the summer of 1999, Enronopened up three gas-fired electricity-gen-erating facilities (peaker plants), licensed tooperate only 1200 hours annually.Although peaker plants are much cheaperto build, the cost of producing electricity atthese plants is, on an average basis, some60% higher than the most efficient pro-duction facilities in the industry.

Located strategically along its supplychain (electric grids and gas pipelines),peaker plants are “fired up” when electric-ity prices peak out. In effect, “peakerplants” supply needed electricity duringtemporary shortages in a manner analo-gous to a manufacturer drawing from itsinventory: a just-in-time supply.

What led Enron to realize that theoperating flexibility furnished through its“peaker plant” option strategy is morevaluable than the cost of operating rela-tively inefficient plants? The answer? Thereal options approach to the analysis ofinvestment opportunities. A real optionsapproach is able to value the operatingflexibility that is furnished through man-agerial alternatives. For Enron, its “peakerplants” indeed serve as an option. Theyprovide the flexibility and not the obliga-tion to produce electricity. Given this per-spective, a real options approach simplystates that the true value of an investmentproject is equal to the value of the projectwithout its real options plus the flexibilitypremium (value) arising from the realoptions associated with the project.

Companies in various industries areincreasingly adopting this approach invaluing contingencies and opportunitiesinherent in capital investment projects. Inthe pharmaceutical industry, for instance,alliances and joint ventures have nowbecome a common business practice dueto the risks involved. In the case of Merckand Biogen’s joint venture to develop andmarket a new asthma drug, the agreementbetween the two companies reflected acontingent contract based on developmentand market uncertainties. The option-likefeatures of this contract could not havebeen valued through traditional methodsand were effectively evaluated using a real

options approach. (See M. Amram and N.Kulatilaka, Harvard Business Review,Jan./Feb. 1999, for further examples.)

The potential for real options analysisto become a business breakthrough isnoteworthy as various industries, compa-nies and consulting firms are embracingthe approach as a decision-making tool.For example, Applied Decision Analysis,LLC, a new, wholly-owned subsidiary ofPricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), hasarmed PWC with its needed real optionsexpertise since 1998.

Essentially, where a high degree ofuncertainty and management’s strategicresponse to changing market conditionsaffect investment opportunities, realoptions provide a robust investment valua-tion framework when compared to themore traditional tools. In most investmentprojects, real options arise due to uncer-tainty in costs, benefits and the opportu-nity to favorably alter the project’s coursecontingent on future information. Theflexibility provided by these options can, insome circumstances, result in significantrisk truncation.

Examples of real options are vast andtypically include: differing initial invest-ment outlay (option to wait), alteringinput rates, changing production rates(volume flexibility), expanding or con-tracting capacity (capacity flexibility),varying the product mix (product flexibil-ity), switching technologies (option toswitch), outsourcing or subcontractingopportunities, temporarily shutting down,and abandonment (for or without salvagevalue).

Valuing Flexibility as Option Prices By Bardia Kamrad

FACULTY FORUM

11Fall / Winter 2000

On the other hand, the strategicaspect of real options tends to affect futureand follow-up investments. For instance,in opting not to commit to a current pro-ject, other future opportunities may beblocked off or at least delayed. Indeed, thevalue of retaining options to other futureprojects is clearly embedded into the valueof these strategic options.

There are several advantages to usinga real options approach to evaluate invest-ment opportunities in the face of uncer-tainty. First, the methodology requiresminimal data forecasts. Specifically, thevaluation mechanism does not depend onthe forecast of prices into the future, norare risk-adjusted discount rates required.

Second, the approach is not static.That is, the real options approach is able tovalue the operating flexibility and strategicoptions within an investment project. Theoperating flexibility refers to the additionalproject value that is derived from the factthat management can revise operating andtactical decisions in response to marketconditions. The strategic options associ-ated with an investment project result fromits interdependence with other future andfollow-up investment opportunities.

Third, real options methodology notonly values an investment project, but alsocan be used to determine value maximiz-ing policies for managing the project.

Fourth, the real options approach candistinguish between “good risk” and “badrisk.” Specifically, the existence of manage-rial options in any project or venture pro-vides decisionmakers with the needed toolsto adapt its future actions such that theupside potential can be improved (“runwith the winners”) while the downsidelosses can be limited (“cut your losses”).

Viewed in this light, uncertainty, orlarge volatility, can be advantageous since itexpands the upside potential without dam-aging the downside (as protected by realoptions). By ignoring the fact that man-agerial decisions can result in truncatingrisk of a project, traditional valuation mod-els have typically penalized “risky” invest-ment opportunities by assigning higherdiscount rates to them. (“Keeping AllOptions Open”, The Economist, August 14,1999, for further elaboration.)

A major disadvantage of the realoptions approach, however, results from theimmense mathematical and computationalcomplexity inherent in the structure of themodels that often makes it difficult formanagers to grasp. Also, the approach can-not be used to solve all classes of invest-ment problems. Perhaps, its best applica-tions occur in situations where the majorsources of uncertainty associated with thefuture cash flows of an investment oppor-tunity can be traced back to two or threeprimary sources. Yet, given the state of theart in computing, these shortcomings arediminishing with the passage of time.Regardless, the undeniable popularity ofthe approach is a tribute to its potential.

Professor Bardia Kamrad’sresearch in real options hasbeen published in a varietyof academic journals. TheMcDonough School is one ofthe few business schools inthe U.S. to offer a course on

real options, which Professor Kamrad teaches.

Faculty


RESEARCH AND ACTIVITES

Associate Professor Reena Aggarwal’s“Price Discovery in Initial Public Offer-ings and Role of the Lead Underwriter,”co-authored with Pat Conroy (Foliofn)appears in the December 2000 issue ofJournal of Finance. She collaborated withAssistant Professor Sandeep Dahiya on“Capital Formation and the Internet”,published in the Journal of Applied Corpo-rate Finance, Spring 2000. Aggarwal pre-sented her paper, “Allocations of InitialPublic Offerings and Flipping Activity”, atthe Securities and Exchange Commissionin October 2000. In July 2000, at the invi-tation of the Peruvian Minister of Finance,she presented strategies for Peruvian capi-tal markets in Lima.

Professor Alan Andreasan’s Social Mar-keting Institute hosted the second Non-profit Managers Summit conference inAtlanta, in conjunction with the AmericanCancer Society, in November. He alsohosted a week-long workshop on socialmarketing in Africa at the University ofCape Town’s School of Business Novem-ber 13-17. Participants completed firstdrafts of 23 cases, which will be the basisfor the first case-study text on social mar-keting in the developing world.

Associate Professor Robert Bies presented“Procedural Justice and Interactional Jus-tice: Different or Equivalent Constructs?”written with Ramona Bobacel (Universityof Waterloo, Canada) at the annual meet-ing of the Academy of Management inAugust 2000.

“Correlates of Intellectual Property Viola-tion” by Associate Professors Jose Luis

Guerrero Cusumano and Ilkka Ronkainen

will appear in Multinational BusinessReview, Spring 2001. Guerrero’s article,“East Meets West: Weaving the Threads

of Deming, da Vinci and the Tao TeChing,” co-authored with Douglas A.Hensler (University of Colorado at Boul-der) and Rick L. Edgeman (ColoradoState) appeared in Total Quality Manage-ment in July 2000. In November 2000, hewas the keynote speaker at the Interna-tional Conference in E-Commerce at theUniversity of Rio de Janeiro.

Assistant Professor Sandeep Dahiya pre-sented “The Dynamics of Debtor-in-Pos-session Financing: Bankruptcy Resolutionand the Role of Prior Lenders,” co-authored with John Kose (Stern School ofBusiness, New York University), ManjuPuri (Graduate School of Business, Stan-ford University), and Gabriel Ramirez(School of Business, Virginia Common-wealth University) at five conferences in2000, including the Changing FinancialIndustry Structure and Regulators confer-ence at the Federal Reserve Bank ofChicago, May 2000.

Associate Professor Willis Emmons’ book,The Evolving Bargain: Strategic Implicationsof Deregulation and Privatization, was pub-lished in November 2000, and provides anin-depth look at the impact of deregula-tion and privatization on managers’ strate-gic agendas in global industries.

Visiting Professor Susan Heckler will co-chair the national conference of the Soci-ety of Consumer Psychology with StewartShapiro (University of Delaware) in Ari-zona in February 2001.

Instructor Jeffrey Macher published“Organizational Learning in Economics,”with C.S. Boerner and D.T. Teece (both atthe Hass School of Business, University ofCalifornia, Berkeley) in the Handbook ofOrganizational Learning and Knowledge.His analysis of “Review of Capital for Our

Time: The Economic, Legal and ManagementChallenge of Intellectual Capital,” appearedin the Journal of Economic Literature inSeptember 2000.

Professor Marcia Miceli’s paper “BenefitSatisfaction,” with P.W. Mulvey (NorthCarolina State University) and C.Dawkins (Ashland University) was pre-sented in November 2000 at the annualmeeting of the Southern ManagementAssociation.

Assistant Professor Sandra J. Milberg’spaper, “Brand Extension Versus NewBrands, Attitudes Versus Choice: Experi-mental Evidence for Both Theory andPractice,” co-authored with Michael S.McCarthy (Richard T. Farmer School ofBusiness, Miami University, and TimothyB. Heath (Katz Graduate School of Busi-ness, University of Pittsburgh) will be pub-lished in a forthcoming issue of MarketingLetters. She has published the followingarticles: “Asymmetric Competition inChoice and the Leveraging of Competi-tive Disadvantages,” co-authored withTimothy B. Heath, Gangseog Rya (KatzGraduate School of Business, University ofPittsburgh), Subimal Chatterjee (Bing-hamton University, NY), Michael S.McCarthy, David L. Mothersbaugh (Uni-versity of Alabama) and Gary J. Gaeth(University of Iowa) is published in theDecember 2000 issue of the Journal ofConsumer Research; “Information Privacy:Corporate Management and NationalRegulation in Organization Science” co-authored with H. Jeff Smith (BabcockGraduate School of Management, WakeForest University) and Sandra J. Burke(University of Sydney, Australia) vol. 11(2000) of Organization Science; and “TheDifferential Processing in Price in Gainsand Losses: The Effects of Frame and

Need for Cognition,” co-authored withSubimal Chatterjee, Timothy B. Heath,and Karen R. France (School of Business,University of West Virginia) appears inJournal of Behavioral Decision Making.

Assistant Professor Marlene Morris pre-sented “The Effect of Individual Differ-ences in Consumer Trust on Internet Mar-keters” and chaired the session “ConsumerTrust in an Internet Environment” at theAssociation for Consumer Research Con-ference in October 2000.

Professor J. Keith Ord published “Eco-nomic Process Control Under Uncer-tainty,” with Felicien Kanyamibwa (Pru-dential Insurance Company of America),in volume 9, 2000 Production and Opera-tions Management. In November, he pub-lished “Automated Neural Network Meth-ods for Forecasting,” in InternationalJournal of Forecasting with S. Balkin (Ernst& Young). He presented “Guidelines orRoadblocks?” at the Making StatisticsMore Effective in Schools of Business(MSMESB) conference in June 2000. Atthe June 2000 International Symposiumon Forecasting in Portugal, he co-pre-sented with S. Balkin, “A Structural Mod-eling Approach to Assessing the Impact ofSpeed Limit Increases on Fatal InterstateCrashes,” and also presented “Forecastingfor Inventory Control with ExponentialSmoothing,” co-authored with A. B.Koehler (Miami University of Ohio) andR. D. Snyder (Monash University, Aus-tralia). He will assume the chair of theAmerican Statistical Association’s Businessand Economic Statistics section in 2002.

Professors N. Lamar Reinsch and Annette

N. Shelby’s paper “Persuasion Strategies ofNonprofessional Advocates: A Study ofLetters to a Senator,” has received the2001 Irwin Distinguished Paper Awardfrom the Southwest Federation of Admin-istrative Disciplines.

Assistant Professor Glen M. Schmidt pub-lished “The Impact of an Integrated Mar-keting and Manufacturing Innovation,”

co-authored with Evan L. Porteus (Stan-ford Business School) in the fall 2000 issueof Manufacturing and Service OperationsManagement. Schmidt and Porteus alsocollaborated on “Sustaining TechnologyLeadership Can Require Both Cost Com-petence and Innovative Competence,”published in the winter 2000 issue ofManufacturing and Service OperationsManagement. Schmidt presented “HowParanoid Should You Be? InnovativeCompetence and Cost Competence LevelsRequired to Insure Technology Leader-ship,” at the May 2000 Institute for Oper-ations Research and Management Sciencemeeting and “The Impact of an IntegratedMarketing and Manufacturing Innova-tion” at the June 2000 Manufacturing andService Operations Management meeting.

Professor Edward Soule published“Assessing the Precautionary Principle” inthe October 2000 issue of Public AffairsQuarterly, and presented this paper at theConference on Biotechnology and thePrecautionary Principle at Harvard’sKennedy School of Government inSeptember 2000.

Professor Michael E. Staten’s study, “TheValue of Comprehensive Credit Report-ing: Lessons for the U.S. Experience” (withJohn M. Barron, Krannert School of Man-agement, Purdue University) was cited inthe September 2000 issue of National Jour-nal. The article explored the economic costof safeguarding privacy.

Assistant Professor Catherine H. Tinsley’spaper “Intervening Fairly in DisputesAmongst Nationally-Different Employ-ees-Is This Possible?” co-authored withDebra L. Shapiro (Kenan-Flagler BusinessSchool, University of North Carolina) hasbeen accepted for publication in a forth-coming issue of Research in Social Issues inManagement. “Psychological NormativeContracts of Work Group Members in theU.S. and Hong Kong”, co-authored withCynthia Lee (Northeastern University inBoston) and Xhou Chen (Hong Kong

University), was published in InternationalPsychological Contracts. Her article, “Man-aging Workplace Conflict in the U.S. andHong Kong”, co-authored with Jeanne M.Brett (Kellogg Graduate School of Man-agement, Northwestern University), willappear in an upcoming issue of Organiza-tional Behavioral Human Decision Processes.

Assistant Professor Jeanine Turner’s“Developing an Optimal Match WithinOnline Communities: An Exploration ofCMC Support Communities and Tradi-tional Support,” will appear in the fall2001 edition of Journal of Communication.Her book chapter, “Telemedicine: Expand-ing Healthcare Into Virtual Environ-ments,” will be published in the Handbookof Healthcare Communication in 2001. In2000, Turner also published the bookchapter, “Generating the Virtual OfficeVisit,” in Managing Healthcare InformationSystems with Web-Enabled Technologies. TheMIT’s Sloan School of Managementinvited her to Boston to present herresearch presentation, “BecomingTelecompetent: Exploring the Phases ofVirtual Organization Development” inOctober 2000. At the 2000 annual confer-ence of the Academy of Management,Turner presented her paper, “Communica-tive Implications of Telemedicine on theDoctor and Patient Encounter.”

Assistant Professors Rohan Williamson

and Lee Pinkowitz won the Jensen BestPaper Prize for 1999 in the Journal ofFinancial Economics for their paper, “TheDeterminants and Implications of Corpo-rate Cash Holdings.” Their second paper,“Bank Power and Cash Holdings: Evi-dence from Japan,” will be forthcoming inthe Review of Financial Studies.

Assistant Professor Bennet A. Zelner willpublish “The Institutional Environmentfor Telecommunications Investment,” co-authored with Witold J. Heinsz (WhartonSchool of Business, University of Pennsyl-vania), in the spring 2001 issue of Journalof Economics & Management Strategy.


Honorable MentionMCDONOUGH STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS


One judge told the stu-dents that successful e-businessentrepreneurs sometimes write20 to 30 business plans beforecoming up with a winner.

“We want our students tobe creating business ideas andlooking at business from alldifferent angles,” says Profes-sor Robert Bies, one of thefaculty coordinators of theMSB Challenge. “Too often,people get into a ‘silo mental-ity.’ They say it’s an account-ing problem or a people prob-lem or a strategy problem.”

But a business issueencompasses all of these, Biesexplains. Students confirmedthey used knowledge from alltheir core courses to developtheir plans, not just the twofor which the project wasrequired. “Other faculty madetheir content more relevant”to the students’ projects, Biessays.

The winning team consisted of first years WyattCrosswhite, Randall Davis,Jennifer Folsom, Ranjan Hullengalle, Michael Haley,Tee Pneh, Jeremy Seiferth and Omar Tapang. They pro-posed a company calledNetLifeManager.com, whichwould connect several differ-ent platforms–PCs, wirelessphones, and so forth–so userscould keep track of theirappointments and other infor-mation from several sources.

Five MBAs Garner TexacoScholarships

Five second-year MBAstudents have beennamed the second

annual Texaco/McDonoughSchool of Business scholars.Sadri Ben Youssef, EdwinTockman, Jason Kuuskraa,Renato Beltran and TeseoBergoglio will each receive a$3,000 scholarship. Winnersmust have majored as under-graduates in engineering,computer science, geo-sci-ences or accounting/financeand have a minimum 3.5grade point average.

Venture Capitalists Challenge MBAs For Winning Plans

Eight venture capital-ists and CEOs ofleading area start-ups

converged on Georgetown’scampus Oct. 19–20 to judgethe MSB Challenge, a compe-tition among first-year MBAsto present a business plan for adot.com enterprise.

A joint course project ofthe Organizational Behaviorand Strategic Managementfaculties, the MSB Challengeinvolved 250 GeorgetownMBA candidates divided into32 teams. The business planscovered both the externalenvironment–such as poten-tial size of the market, keysuccess factors, competition–and internal issues, includingwhat capabilities and resourcesthe e-business would need.

Andersen ConsultingAwards Two MBA Scholarships

Andersen ConsultingEndowed Scholar-ships have been

awarded to John Pribenow(MBA’01) and ChristopherChazin (MBA’01), whoreceive $500 each in scholar-ships. The awards recognizeacademic excellence and inter-est in consulting.

Pribenow, a former Armyofficer, is concentrating hisstudies on strategy andfinance. “I had no businesseducation prior to cominghere,” Pribenow says, andcame to Georgetown to pre-pare to enter the private sectorwork force.

Chazin is on the board ofthe InterAmerican BusinessAssociation, a graduate stu-dent club, and worked forDow Jones newswires prior toenrolling in the MBA pro-gram.

“My interest is in thetelecommunication industry,”Chazin says. He plans to seekpositions in strategic planningor business development.

Both winners servedinternships last summer atPricewaterhouseCoopers.

Participants in the MSB Challenge

(l to r) Brenda Kissane, Bor-Weei Yang,

Aaron Bearce, Ryan De Leon,

Pia Cyrus Vachha; (second row) Juan

Pablo Crane, Janice Del Aguila.

All Class of 2002.

15Fall /Winter 2000

MSB Challenge Participants include (l to r) Hyung Choi, Marlene Devotto, Jason Claire, Elizabeth Maurer, Ates Celep, Michele Konrad, Ryan Connors. All Class of 2002.

Proposed Timeline for New McDonough School Facility

The assumption is that 75 percent of the $60–$75 millionfundraising goal, or $42.3–$56.3 million, will be committed byOctober 2001 in order for ground-breaking to occur and con-struction to proceed in January 2003.

November 2000: Presentation of initial renderings to MajorGifts Committee and Board of Advisors. Beginning of increaseddevelopment efforts to ensure that all necessary funding will bein place by the time the University Board of Directors approvalis sought to begin construction.

December 2000: Initiate process for internal project approvalthrough Georgetown’s Capital Planning Committee and Execu-tive Cabinet.

January 2001: Architectural programming and design proposalto be submitted by Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

May 2001: After completing the internal approval process,seek Board of Directors approval to begin official design devel-opment, schematic design and construction documents (oneyear). During this year, complete all zoning requirements andend with a completed bidding process resulting in a guaranteedmaximum price.

May 2002: The McDonough School of Business announces thatthe fundraising required to finance the building is substantiallycompleted. Board of Directors approval for construction issought (assuming that the fundraising is significantly complete).Bid is approved and ground-breaking is scheduled (twenty-fourto thirty-month construction period).

November 2002: Site work begins (thirty-month constructionperiod).

January 2003: Construction on new facility begins.

January 2005: Building is scheduled for completion and someprograms begin moving into the facility.

September 2005: The building is fully occupied and functioningas the new home of the McDonough School of Business.


Georgetown University’s Board of Directors hasvoted to extend the Third Century CapitalCampaign until June 2003.The campaignextension allows the McDonough School ofBusiness to further focus on fundraising for a

new business school facility. Fundraising for this facility has beena part of the campaign since its inception in 1996, and to date$20.8 million has been raised.

A new, state-of-the-art facility is essential to advance thegoal of becoming a world-class business school. In addition toproviding the physical infrastructure needed for first-rate pro-grams at every level of business education, this 200,000 square-foot facility will make it possible for the McDonough School tobring all of its programs under one roof for the first time in thehistory of the School.

The new facility will be constructed at the heart of George-town campus, signaling the School’s key role in the University’sacademic mission. The cost of the facility is estimated to bebetween $60 million and $75 million. The new facility willhouse the undergraduate, MBA, IEMBA, and non-degree exec-utive education programs, and feature state-of-the-art class-rooms, increased and improved career services offices and inter-view rooms, and high-quality space for student services and theSchool’s research centers.

A critical component to all levels of business educationtoday is the integration of technology in the classroom. TheMcDonough School plans to provide the best possible technol-ogy to enhance the academic experience. This new building isalso planned to rival the facilities at peer institutions, as moreprospective students report facilities to be a factor when deter-mining what top business school to attend.

Following is a proposed timeline for planning, fund-raisingand completion of the new facility. Naming opportunities forthe new facility will be formally developed in early 2001. Tomake contributions to the new building, or to learn more aboutthe new facility plans, please contact the McDonough School ofBusiness development office at (202) 687-0179.

Dividends

Citizens can pressure gov-ernments to re-regulate dereg-ulated industries if they don’tlike the way the industries per-form, Emmons explained. Pre-viously unregulated industriescan come under governmentscrutiny if markets change, asMicrosoft has learned, headded.

Corporate executives mustrecognize that the ultimatesource of regulation is not apower-hungry governmentbureaucrat but “the broadersociety–consumers, competi-tors and would-be competi-tors” who become concernedabout concentrated privatecontrol of such essential goodsand services as energy, water,health care and now computeroperating systems.

Emmons, whose researchfocuses on international politi-cal economy and the eco-nomics and politics of businessregulation, interviewed nearly200 corporate and governmentofficials around the worldwhile preparing the book. Hewanted it to have global scopeand to be accessible and ofpractical value to decision-makers in business and gov-ernment.

Emmons came toMcDonough in January afterspending his previous aca-demic career at Harvard. Heearned his B.A., MBA andPh.D. in business economicsthere, then taught at HarvardBusiness School, where heattained the rank of associateprofessor.

New Professor Probes the Politics of BusinessRegulation

Privatization and dereg-ulation aren’t distinctevents that occur once

and stay set for all time.Instead, they are living rela-tionships between businessesand governments that are inconstant states of evolution.Business executives who fail torecognize this can suffer frus-tration and diminished success.

So states Associate Pro-fessor William M. (Willis)Emmons in his new book, TheEvolving Bargain: StrategicImplications of Deregulation andPrivatization, published byHarvard Business School Pressin November 2000.

“I think a number of folksthese days see endless opportu-nity from the changed role ofgovernment in deregulationand privatization,” Emmonssaid.

“To an extent, it’s true.But what many people don’tfully appreciate is how signifi-cant the ongoing role of gov-ernment is. Companies need tohave an understanding of theongoing political dynamics.”


At McDonough, heteaches strategy management,international business and thestrategic implications ofderegulation and privatization.

A primary attraction ofMcDonough, Emmonsexplained, is the opportunityto make an impact. “AfterHarvard, it’s exciting to cometo a younger school,” he said.“The atmosphere is a bit moreentrepreneurial. You can makea difference here.”

Faculty NEWS

Associate Professor Willis Emmons

High-tech Research and“Tough Love” TeachingStyle Define NewMcDonough Professor

Integrated companies aremore effective than spe-cialized firms when work-

ing at the leading edge of technology, Assistant ProfessorJeffrey T. Macher discoveredduring his study of innovation,organization and performancein the global semiconductorindustry.The opposite is trueafter industry standardsbecome established, however.

Integration trumps spe-cialization at the cutting edgebecause “it’s very difficult fortwo parties that are separate tocommunicate about issues atthe technology frontier,”Macher said. “It’s much betterto be integrated because theexchange of ideas occurs mucheasier and you can morequickly understand the prob-lems that exist on one side orthe other within the singleforum.”

After standardization,“the design engineer (in onecompany) can design a chip tothe standard, and the manu-facturing engineer (in anotherfirm) can design the produc-tion line to the same stan-dard,” Macher said. This isadvantageous because of “theeconomies of specialization inthe firm that does one thingand does it well,” he explained.

Macher conducted theresearch for his dissertation atthe University of California atBerkeley’s Haas School ofBusiness, where he will receivehis Ph.D. this year. Hisresearch focus continues to beon high-tech industries, par-ticularly semiconductors,biotechnology and pharma-ceuticals. Currently, withscholars from Berkeley andthe University of Texas, he isinvestigating the economics ofthe semiconductor industry inthe 21st century.

Macher earned a bachelorof science in engineering atthe University of Michiganand became a software engi-neer at Motorola. He thenearned his MBA at Dart-mouth’s Tuck School of Busi-ness Administration. Hisengineering education, hisemployment at Motorola,Berkeley’s location near Sili-con Valley and its center forthe study of the semiconduc-tor industry made semicon-ductors a likely area of interestfor him, he said.

Macher now teachescourses on microeconomicsand strategy to undergradu-ates and MBA students atMcDonough.

He describes his teachingstyle as “tough love.”

“I tell them right awaythat I will give you 75 minutesof my best effort and in turn Iexpect 75 minutes of you,” hesaid. “I work extremely hardfor my students, and I expectthe same in return.”

19Fall /Winter 2000

Assistant Professor Jeffrey Macher


“I don’t believe the income statement untilI see the cash-flow statement,” said Profes-sor Patricia Fairfield in a November 29,2000 feature on corporate cash-flow in the“In the Money” Dow Jones Newswires

column.

“Leadership in part is a set of skills–yourability to prioritize, your ability to inspire,your ability to build common ground. Youcan teach those kinds of skills,” said Pro-fessor Bob Bies in “Carnegie-MellonBroadening Instruction To Create Better-Rounded Students” (Bill Schackner) in theNovember 12, 2000 issue of the Pittsburgh

Post-Gazette.

Georgetown McDonough School alumnaeTracy Lloyd-McRae (MBA’00) was fea-tured in a roundtable discussion on theimpact of business school rankings in theNovember 2000 issue of MBA Jungle.

Georgetown McDonough School studentDan Goldblum (MBA’01) commented onInternet radio in the October 23, 2000article “Web Radio Offers Listeners aWide Range of Alternative Sites” in theWall Street Journal.

Professor Jim Angel warned that the Mid-dle East tensions could “put an end to thebull market on its 10th anniversary” inSmartmoney.com “Oil Crisis 2000”(Rebecca Thomas) October 13, 2000.

“My intuition is that over time there willbe many more stock splits, reducing theaverage share price dramatically, but it willprobably take 10 or 20 more years to getthere,” predicted Professor Jim Angel inthe October 3, 2000 issue of The Wall

Street Journal’s “Getting Going: The Prosand Cons of Doing the Splits” ( JonathanClements).

Professor Jose-Luis Guerrero Cusumanoappeared on The Newshour with Jim

Lehrer on September 22, 2000, to discussefforts to revive the sagging euro.

The New York Times quoted ProfessorRonald Goodstein on the possible effectsof subliminal advertising in “DemocratsSee, and Smell, Rats in G.O.P. Ad”(Richard L. Berke) on September 12,2000. “Seeing the word ‘Rats’ could makepeople more negative…but there is no waythat people are going to switch votesbecause of it,” said Goodstein.

Professor Reena Aggarwal’s research onthe American Stock Exchange was fea-tured in the September 11, 2000 Business

Week article “Has the Curb MarketMoved into the Gutter?” (Gary Weiss).

The September 1, 2000 issue of The

Washington Times featured the success ofGeorgetown McDonough School MBAsin helping a local business owner win acontract with the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency in “Washington-Area University Students Help Business inExchange for Class Credit” (DipkaBhambhani).

In the September 1, 2000 Business Wire

article “ExecCard Teams with GeorgetownMBA for Record Year,” Associate Deanand Director of Graduate Business Pro-grams, Larry Abeln noted that “the use ofmultimedia presented an opportunity forus as an institution to better project someof our unique characteristics of theGeorgetown MBA experience and culture.The distribution of the card to the poten-tial candidates had a very positive impacton our applications.”

“Deregulation and privatization were soldimplicitly on the assumption that every-body can win from free markets, but I’mhard pressed to find an example in the realworld where that has happened,” said Pro-fessor Willis Emmons in the August 27,2000 New York Times article “One ChoiceToo Many in Electricity’s New Free Mar-ket” (Kirk Johnson). “Maybe somebody iswinning, but it isn’t the consumer,” saidEmmons.

In the Media

We encourage all business

school alumni–undergraduate,

MBA, and executive MBA,

to send us class notes. Please

contact Elizabeth Shine at

202.687.4080, if you would

like to become a class agent.

To send notes, please call,

fax them to 202.687.2017,

or e-mail the notes to

[email protected].

21Fall /Winter 2000

1979Samuel Kubiak was appointedas an investment officer for theAFL-CIO’s building invest-ment trust corp in March 2000.He earned the Certified Com-mercial Investment Memberreal estate designation inNovember 1999. Samuel is alsoa project director for his com-munity association and isprecinct captain for the Arling-ton, Va. Republican Party.Samuel enjoys spending timewith his 2 1/2-year-old son and16-year-old daughter.

1983Michael G. Hogan is controllerat Best Doctors, Inc. in Virginia.

1986Ashley Tagatac and her hus-band Chris are living in NewYork with their two children,Madeline (2 years) andCameron (7 months). Ashleyhas just completed her 12th yearat Morgan Stanley Dean Wittersales and marketing and recruit-ing. She will be recruiting atGeorgetown this fall.

1987Michael Paolillo is vice presi-dent, legal counsel at GE Capi-tal Markets Services.

1989Richard Cooney II has joinedthe New York headquartersoffice of the Greenwich GroupInternational as a director.

1990Will Caperton y Montoya hasassumed a new position asdirector of brand marketing at

CareerPath.com, one of theleading career management siteson the Internet. In addition tobuilding the CareerPath.combrand, Will is in charge ofdirecting all television, radio,print, and outdoor advertisingfor the company. Prior to joiningCareerPath.com, Will was a cre-ative marketing consultant forclients in the entertainment,new media, toy, fashion, andpublishing industries. Hereceived an MBA in marketingand entertainment managementfrom the Anderson School atUCLA in 1995. Will remainsactive in the Georgetownalumni interview program andsplits the rest of his free timebetween his homes in NewMexico and Los Angeles.

Peter E. McGratty is the direc-tor of business development atLenox Inc., an online market-place for corporate equipment.

1992Amy Hentges Holtz is contin-uing her volunteer work at theBethesda/Chevy Chase RescueSquad as a firefighter/emer-gency medical technician. Sherecently married ChristopherHoltz.

1993Brett Michael Gottlob, a cor-porate audit manager at Sprint,was married on June 5, 1999.

1995David Hulme, a captain in theU.S. Army, is working as anApache pilot. He is attendingthe aviation captain’s course atFt. Rucker, Ala. In December2000, he reports to Korea for aone-year tour of duty. In his

UNDERGRADUATE

1963Charlie J. Wolf II is presidentand CEO of Payroll Network,Inc., located in Kensington, Md.Charlie has recently been electedto the Sovereign Military Orderof Malta’s Camera Dei Conti(Financial Committee) in Romefor a five-year-term.

1968Gina Wentzel Wolfe is associ-ate professor of theology at theSchool of Theology Seminary atSt. John’s University in Col-legeville, Minn. In September,she and Professor Jane Kathmangave a presentation on “TheEthics of Accountable Leader-ship” at the 13th annual confer-ence of the European BusinessEthics Network held in Cam-bridge, England. She is currentlyon sabbatical and, with a grantfrom the Louisville Institute, isexamining “Mission Integrityand Organizational Ethics inCatholic Higher Education.”

1969Richard C. Valerian is a manag-ing attorney at Farmers Insur-ance Group.

1970Robert J. Dunbar is presidentof Doran Manufacturing Lim-ited Liability Corporation,which recently merged withTorrington Metal Products toform a large precision sheetmetal manufacturing company.

Alumni NOTES

ALUMNI PROFILE

Making VitalContact with Venture Capital

Michael Appelbaum (B’00) started his first Internet busi-

ness at age 15. During his years at Georgetown, he and

a classmate created a software firm, called Illumix, from

their dorm room. Now at the ripe age of 23, the recent

graduate has moved to the big leagues. He’s secured the

backing of a leading venture capitalist, started his next

Internet company, VitalContact, and been profiled in

the Washington Post Magazine.

Appelbaum’s career as high tech entrepreneur began at

age 7, when his parents bought him his first computer.

“I’ve loved computers ever since,” he says. In 1994, the

teenager signed up 200 customers in the area around his

Boston home, providing them with e-mail service “before

AOL got really big.” Appelbaum used “guerilla marketing,” going to computer shows and sticking promotional

fliers on car windshields. With his application to Georgetown, he included a presentation on his company.

“Maybe that was why they let me in,” he speculates.

It was in his college computer science class that Appelbaum met Jeffrey Garvett (B’00). They both had ideas for

software applications and decided to team up on a project that eventually filled all their hours outside of class.

“Sometimes even in class I was writing programs in my notepad,” Appelbaum admits. The result was Illumix, an

Internet research tool bought by such companies as American Express and Microsoft. Some of VitalContact’s

software is based on that product.

“We’re providing companies with technology that lets them alert the people that matter when important infor-

mation changes anywhere and then allows people to act on that information,” Appelbaum explains.

Just a few months ago, Appelbaum, VitalContact’s CEO, and Garvett, the chief technology officer, were working

out of an apartment they share in Georgetown. Now they have offices in Rosslyn, Va. and are hiring several

employees, thanks to the capital and mentoring they’ve received from Steve Walker Associates. So far, they’ve

raised $300,000 from Walker and other investors, and now are seeking an additional $1 million to grow their

company.


spare time, David is volunteeringat local blood drives and forHabitat for Humanity.

Laurie Johnson has recentlyjoined Account Pros, a head-hunting firm, as an associate inexecutive searching, specializingin accounting and finance pro-fessionals. Laurie recentlymoved to Hoboken, N.J.

1996Lisa Fiorito is an MBA studentat the University of Virginia’sDarden School of Business.

David Welch is working at Gold-man Sachs in New York City.

Natalie Wolf is a second-yearMBA student at the HarvardBusiness School.

Mark Vlasic graduated fromGeorgetown Law in 2000 and isnow studying in Holland on aDutch foundation grant throughthe Fulbright Scholar program.He has also accepted a positionas an associate at the law firm ofGibson, Dunn & Carter. Any-one passing through Hollandcan contact him at [email protected].

Kristen L. Zarenko is a corpo-rate associate at McGuire WoodsLaw Firm.

1999Rebecca Velez is an associateconsultant with financial advi-sory services at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is planning toenter an MBA program in thefall of 2001.

Alumni NOTES

23Fall /Winter 2000

1987The Class of 1987 is solicitinga new class agent. Pleasecontact Elizabeth Shine at [email protected] if interested.

Henry Bose, Jr. started a hoteland management firm, Ivy Hos-pitality Inc., in June 2000 withhelp from a group of SiliconValley angels.

1989The Class of 1989 is solicitinga new class agent. Pleasecontact Elizabeth Shine at [email protected] if interested.

Hiroshi Asada joined Ameri-can International Group, aninsurance company, in June2000. He is a regional market-ing manager. He will soon cele-brate his tenth weddinganniversary with his wife, Hit-omi. His two children, Megumiand Ken, will be 5-and 3-years-old, respectively, this September.Hiroshi and Hitomi have begunto play golf.

1990Class agent: Lorraine [email protected]

Shaul Berechman was inWashington for our ten-yearGeorgetown MBA classreunion. Currently, Shaul ismanaging the members’ savingsplan of his kibbutz, as well asrunning member meetings andother finance and business-related community activities.While in town for the reunion,Shaul stayed at Shulie andJonathan Madnick’s home inReston, Va.

MBA

Rich and Lisa Carlson live in agolf community in Texas withtheir four children.

Paul Fields and his wife, Jane,ran the Dublin, Irelandmarathon on October 30, theirfirst wedding anniversary. So,Paul and Jane, for your secondanniversary, Everest? The Mat-terhorn? The Fields ran themarathon with Joints inMotions, a fundraising eventsponsored by the ArthritisFoundation.

Jane Ashton Hawes was atdaughter Emma’s dance recitalthe weekend of the George-town MBA reunion. Jane andher husband vacationed inLong Island and Maine thissummer, with a quick trip toChicago in August for atriathlon. Jane’s freelance writ-ing keeps her busy with a smor-gasbord of subjects, including ahow-to primer on building per-mits, murder cases and organicbeef profiles.

Lorraine Herr, when not writ-ing notes for her Georgetownclass, works three days a weekfor AT&T, follows a rigorousweight-training program,designs custom window treat-ments, and teaches her sonBroadway show tunes.

Bill Kummel also attended thereunion and reported visitingwith Mohab Khattab, MonteCarlo, Eileen Utter, ScottHandel and Alan Lawhead.Bill moved back to Washing-ton, D.C. this summer andclaims to see Monica Lewinskyevery so often at a breakfastplace he frequents.

Jonathan Madnick is still withAmerican Management Sys-tems and was recently in Israelworking on a telecommunica-tions project.

C. Whitney Mandel is still sta-tioned in Baltimore. He has juststarted with a consulting firmand is enjoying his new workexperiences.

Eileen Utter spent most of hersix-week sabbatical fromCharles Schwab in France thisJuly, first attending cookingschool, then exploring the Bor-deaux and Dordogne regionsand finally ending up in Paris.Lorraine Herr joined Eileen ather “country chateau” (completewith a pool) for a week in theDordogne.

Kitty Swenson continues towork at Wasatch Advisors. Sheand her husband, Steve, are busywith their two daughters, Scoutand Sara.

1991Class agent: Mary Pat [email protected]

Mary Pat Blaylock is very busywith her two children and help-ing to plan the class’ ten-yearMBA reunion.

Rob de Ocampo is working atBighorn Cellars, a Napa Valleywinery that specializes inchardonnay and cabernet sauvi-gnon. He began his work therein 1997, when he was broughton to develop a financing planfor the winery. His duties haveexpanded to include winemakingmanagement, marketing andbrand management and vineyardoperations.

1993Class agent: Jordan O’[email protected]

Tim Becker was admitted toAndersen Consulting’s partner-ship in September 2000. He pro-vides strategy consulting to theutility industry, focusing on e-commerce and growth strategies.

Steve and Susan Fortier (for-merly Susan Aiken) are new,proud parents. Their daughter,Hannah Elizabeth, was born lastAugust. Steve is a partner atKPMG and Susan is still at LeoBurnett.

David Liebreich has moved toJapan and started e-Crossing, anincubator company designed tobuild a number of Internet busi-nesses in Japan.

Chris Melley and his wife Annecelebrated the birth of theirdaughter on May 5, 2000.

David Roover continues tocompete with Jordan O’Neilland Terry McDermott for the lead in the “most-jobs-after-business-school” competition.His fourth position post-Georgetown is with a companyhe co-founded in Boston, PciCommercial, Inc. Pci is a start-up that develops enabling tech-nologies and a net-market for commercial loans. He hasresponsibility for the developmentof the loan market. Thoughthinking he had hit the jack-potby catching the B2B wave, henow realizes that B2B means“back to banking,” which he justleft. David and his wife,Michelle, have a son, Ben.

Eileen Schjelderup recentlyrelocated to Denver. She haschanged careers from the non-


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TESprofit arena, accepting a job with

Marisco Capital Management.In her spare time, she enjoys iceclimbing and snowshoeing.Also, Eileen spent a month trav-eling around Australia.

1994Class agent: David [email protected]

Manish Agarwal is living andworking in Calcutta with hiswife of two years, Aparna. Hehas moved into the processedfoods industry from the teaindustry.

Chris Bahr and his wife Pagetwelcomed the arrival of theirfirst child, a son, on July 31,2000. Hazard Gage was born atStanford University hospital.Chris continues to enjoy hiswork for IBM in Silicon Valley.

Francisco Barriocanal has ababy daughter, Ines.

Sue Benveniste was marriedSeptember 23, 2000, in Seattleto Keith Walter from New York.Georgetown MBAs AshleyLowe, Kristin and MattCarcieri were in attendance.

Andrew Dyer is back in hisnative Australia, where he worksfor McKinsey in Melbourne.

Dave Egan was married duringLabor Day weekend in Chicago.Eric Saucedo, John Jacobs andEvan Flinn were in attendance.

Melissa Guerin Escajadillo isstill living in Peru with her hus-band, Gonzalo. They are raisingtwo girls, Mila (2 years old) andCristina (3 months). Melissarecently left IBM and joinedSun Microsystems.

Ashley Lowe married RobShaya over Labor Day weekendin Sedona, Ariz.

1996Class agent: Leslie [email protected]

In March, 2000, MustafaAbdel-Wadood and a group ofpartners launched an investmentbank that focuses on mergersand acquisitions, advisory work,placements, securities brokerageand venture capital. The bankhas grown to over 50 employees.A lot of his work is focused ontechnology and high-growthopportunities in the MiddleEast and North Africa region.His company also launchedEgypt’s first on-line trading siteand is developing a regionalfinancial portal. In the way ofpersonal news, Mustafa has beenmarried since September 1999.

Antonio Belaustegui was mar-ried on June 23, 2000, inLogroño, Spain. RamiroSánchez and Alejandro Garcíacame to the wedding; they hadan incredible time.

Sibel Berzeg was recently pro-moted to regional director forInternews Network, responsiblefor offices/projects in five coun-tries: Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbai-jan, Georgia and Armenia. Shealso sits on the executive com-mittee that manages the organi-zation worldwide. Sibel has beenliving in Tbilisi, Georgia sinceJuly 2000, and loves it. She isspeaking pretty decent Russianthese days, though Georgian isanother story completely.Georgetown MBA ‘96 alumnivisitors always welcome!

Margot Jacobs is living inLondon.

Paddy McGee was married inAugust 2000 in Donegal, Ire-land. Those in attendanceincluded Marc Gross, his wife,Louise, and their daughter, 8-month-old Aurelia. AlonaPonomareva was also there.Paddy is still with J.P. Morgan,working on U.K. mergers &acquisitions.

Lisa Mitiguy is still a seniormanager at Ernst & Young inWashington, D.C.

Paul Murphy and his wife Janeare moving back to New YorkCity. Paul has a new job as aprincipal at Sentinel CapitalPartners.

Brad Norton and his wife, Deb-bie, are proud parents of tripletdaughters, Anna, Sydney andTaylor, born March 2, 2000. Bradand his family live outside Cleve-land, Ohio, where he is workingin the equity investment researchgroup at Keybank.

Dave Petroni joined onDisplay,a web infrastructure business, inlate 1990. OnDisplay wasacquired by Vignette earlier thisyear and Dave is managing thetransition.

Mike Piwowar and his wife,Eileen, became proud parents ofSean Raymond on March 20,2000. Mike is also having hisacademic journal article (coau-thored with Chris J. Muscarella)published in a forthcoming Jour-nal of Financial Markets. Mike isan assistant professor of financeat Iowa State University.

Kristen Staples is working as apart-time Internet consultant forthe Morino Group, and is rais-

ing her two children–Haley (4years) and Jack (18 months).Kristen sees Robyn Carton,Adrienne Cox, and JenAnthony from time to time. JenAnthony visited Ashley Lowerecently in Michigan.

Matt Tucker is currently run-ning RightFreight, a companyoffering global airfreightexchange for forwarders, ship-pers and carriers.

Heather Weaver (neeMitchell) is living in Washing-ton, D.C. with her husband,Mike, and son, Grant. Sheworks at AOL.

1995Class agent: Scott [email protected]

Claudia Kern has been living inthe Washington, D.C. area since1999. She was married to Javierin Venezuela in 1995. The twolived in New York from 1995 to1999. While living in New York,Claudia worked for A.T. Kear-ney and then decided to start herown jewelry business, C&GDesigns Corp. The companyspecializes in unique sterling sil-ver pieces and semi-preciousstones. The main market com-prises of small boutiques in theNew York and Miami areas, aswell as in Venezuela and Mex-ico. Javier works for Capital Oneas director of retail deposits,while Claudia is still managingher own business.

Andris Levensteins recently leftGeneral Electric Plastics Busi-ness Development to move westto Denver, Colo. with his wife,Ingrid, and baby son, Niklavs. Heis enjoying skiing and fishing inthe Rocky Mountains.

Alumni NOTES

25Fall /Winter 2000

Michael Bress is working forAndersen Consulting in Reston,Va., structuring private equitytransactions with his clients. Hemoved back to Washington ayear ago, and has a 3-month-oldJack Russell terrier.

Helen Chen started a companyin Taiwan, manufacturing per-sonal computer peripherals.Helen does original equipmentmanufacturing for several largeJapanese companies and in Tai-wan she markets under her ownbrand, H2O. Helen is seekingdistribution in the U.S.A., ifanyone has any tips for her.

Sara Conner had a baby girl onAugust 9, 1999. Her name isAbigail Beach. Sara recentlymoved to North Andover, Mass.She is taking a break from thebusiness world to be a mother,which has been quite an adjust-ment but worth it.

Tim Doyle switched jobs inMarch 2000. He’s now atSterne, Kessler, Goldstein &Fox, a mid-sized intellectualproperty law firm in Washing-ton. Tim is on track to graduatefrom George Washington LawSchool in 2002. He’s happy totalk to anyone working for acompany that needs intellectualproperty protection (or any otherGeorgetown MBAs for thatmatter).

Mark Drexelius is now themanager for applied informationwith Brown and Williamson, atobacco manufacturer, inLouisville, Ky. He will beresponsible for managing theflow of all marketing informa-tion to B&W’s brand and retailmarketing groups in the U.S.A.This will include retail segmen-tation, performance scorecards

and aspects or category manage-ment. Mark’s wife Candace hasrejoined the work force as agraphic designer with DoeAnderson, an ad agency inLouisville, and Mark’s daughterLexi will celebrate her fourthbirthday in October.

Bob Gabriel joined a dot.comin McLean, Va., in March 2000,called IXI Corporation. He isstill living in Georgetown withwife Megan and their three chil-dren.

John Loncto just finished hisfirst year at UCLA Law School.

Stephen Gaull will be leavingBrazil and moving back to theWashington, D.C. area immi-nently. He has an appointmentas an executive fellow with theU.S. Export-Import Bank. Thisis a one-year position, and hewill be working in the assetmanagement and structuredproject finance divisions with theCFO.

Dwight Gibbs is still (six yearsand counting) the chief techiegeek at The Motley Fool, a pop-ular personal finance website.Apparently the only person witha similar tenure in the Internetspace is Dave Filo at Yahoo.Objects at rest stay at rest?Dwight’s latest tasks are puttingtogether a customer relationshipmanagement tech strategy andan international tech operationsplan for the U.S.A., U.K., Ger-many and Japan. When notworking, Dwight spends timewith his wife, Amanda, anddaughter Thora (who turnedone on September 20, 2000). Herecently played the role of singleparent while Amanda was inSouth Africa for ten days andhas newfound respect for single

MBA

ALUMNI PROFILE

Navigating Cyberspace to Find Success at AOL

It’s hard to realize that it was only in the mid-

1990s that consumers started using the Inter-

net. Before most of us could imagine the Net’s

enormous impact on our lives, John Ayers

(MBA/JD’89) was sensing the potential and

pointing his career toward cyberspace.

One of only a handful of students in his class

who earned both a law degree and an MBA,

Ayers, 37, is vice president of AOL Anywhere & Navigation Services at

America Online. His route to AOL’s senior management began at a major

New York law firm, where he worked on mergers and acquisitions.

He quickly learned that young lawyers had to do a lot of drudge work

before they could step up to key roles in important cases. So he jumped

to a smaller, more entrepreneurial firm that advises venture capitalists as

well as handles mergers and acquisitions. “It gave me an opportunity at

a young age to be involved in the structuring of deals,” Ayers says.

When AOL, which had recently gone public, decided to acquire Redgate

Communications, owned by Georgetown alum Ted Leonsis, Ayers’ law

firm worked on the deal. As he helped AOL acquire more businesses, “it

made me aware of how powerful this medium was going to be.” At the

same time, he decided he wanted to stop practicing law. In 1995, he

joined AOL, where he spearheaded the evolution of AOL.com from a

marketing site into a full service Web portal offering instant messaging,

e-mail, chat, search and other features.

Although he had to learn the technology on the job, he credits his busi-

ness school courses with giving him the ability to be a strategic thinker

and “to understand business and markets, which are the same principles

in the online and offline world.”

Ayers believes the young Internet industry offers new MBA graduates

more risks but also endless possibilities. Even with the tremendous

growth of the Internet in the last three or four years, “it’s still early in the

game,” he stresses.


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that, Dwight is putting togethera CD with his band N’8.

Michael Hawk and MichaelMaier preceded Mariana Marti-nova’s wedding weekend with arafting trip on the Gauley Riverin West Virginia, followed bymountain biking in Moab, Utah.

Julie Jaoudi recently moved toBoston, Mass., with her husbandDave–he is pursuing his Mas-ter’s in Public Administration atHarvard’s Kennedy School ofGovernment. She is still work-ing with AOL in business devel-opment. She would love to knowif there are other GeorgetownMBAs in the area!

Michele Joseph is a proudmother of a 4-year-oldpreschooler named Austin. Sheis also building a marketing con-sulting firm with a social respon-sibility twist: Klick Consultants,Inc. She is actively recruiting avirtual team of consultants andseeking investment opportuni-ties.

Scott Keough is still withMicroStrategy as a senior man-ager, running partner marketing.

Timarie Kilsheimer wasrecently promoted to manager ofchannel development at Digexin Bethesda, Md.

Lisa Klepper (nee Comparato)and her husband Carl had ababy boy, Carl, Jr., on July 31,2000.

Tammy Maddrey and husbandGreg had their second child,William, in January 2000. Theirfirst daughter, Catherine, isalmost 3 years old. They recentlymoved to Denver, Colo., whereGreg is a director for Channel-

point, Inc. Tammy is takingsome time off to be a mom for awhile.

Miriana Martinova wed KevinSmith in Denver, Colo., onSeptember 16, 2000. Miriana’swedding was attended by MariaAntoinetta de Icaza and NoraRivero Hudec. Also attendingthe ceremony were MichaelMaier, Michael Hawk, JillKianka, and Leslie BlairAlvarado. Miriana and Kevinboth work for Qwest in Denver.They honeymooned in Hawaiifor two weeks before returningto Denver. Everyone had a blastcatching up and dancing thenight away at the beautifulBrown Palace Hotel. Four yearsgoes by quickly!

Wendy Moe just moved toTexas and is now a professor atthe business school at the Uni-versity of Texas at Austin, teach-ing e-commerce. Wendy alsostarted a company with a coupleof Wharton MBAs. The com-pany is based in Seattle, Wash.

Joe Mohan is the proud fatherof Francis Joseph Mohan, bornin Panama at the end of May.Within a week, Francis hadthree passports and during hisfirst 3 months, he has traveled toArgentina, Guatemala, Miami,Cuba, New York City and eightother flights in between! Joe isdoing well with his new job,sales director of Copa Airlines.In between trips, they are hittingthe rain forest and visiting the20 countries he manages.

Wendi Norris has been workingfeverishly at a hot new SanFrancisco-based company, ScaleEight (www.s8.com). As vicepresident of marketing, Wendirecently launched the companyin the U.S.A. and will soon

debut it in both Europe andJapan. In her “spare” time she isalso an active board member forthe Bay Area YMCA, where shefocuses on developing programsfor at-risk youth in San Fran-cisco.

Sandra Nouhra (married name:Hoffman) recently had her sec-ond baby boy, Marc Angelo,born on July 5, 2000. His olderbrother Julian will be 2 years oldin February 2001. Sandra is stillliving in Dubai (since 1999),working as an export manager.She has done a lot of traveling,especially in Africa. Sandra islooking forward to limiting hertraveling to vacations only!

Richard Oren recently left TheJim Henson Company tobecome director of licensing forHBO Properties. He is respon-sible for the merchandising of allHBO programs, including TheSopranos and Sex and the City.Richard and fellow GeorgetownMBA alumnus MichaelBerman get together regularlyfor mind-numbing games ofScrabble.

Colleen Parent and her hus-band Al had a baby in June2000, Katherine Grace Zarate.She’s been a wonderful additionto their family.

Christian Preuss has been liv-ing in Guyana since March1999, working for British Amer-ican Tobacco, as the generalmanager for the DemeraraTobacco Co.

Wil Priester and his wife Pamhad another baby girl in March2000–Katherine Elizabeth(Kate). Big sister Lindsey haslearned to share Mommy andDaddy and is particularly effec-tive at making Kate giggle.

Judy Renfrew was promoted to development manager at CarrAmerica, a real estate com-pany. She had another baby,Elinor Renfrew Berger, bornAugust 6, 2000. Elinor joins big sister Alexandra, who is 2years old.

Allen Wang was promoted tobrand manager at Procter &Gamble in June 2000. He is nowmanaging all coffee (Folgers andMillstone brands) for away-from-home opportunities (i.e.anywhere you find yourselfdrinking coffee, but not athome). Allen and his wife alsohad a new son, born on July 12,2000. His English name isAlexander, but they often callhim by his Chinese name “Jia-long”, which means “gooddragon”, as he was born in theYear of Dragon.

David Wigglesworth and hiswife Laura are the proud parentsof a baby boy, Ryan, born inMarch 2000. David recentlychanged jobs and now works atNetEx in Herndon, Va., whichprovides encryption, protection,control and administration ofInternet-delivered content ande-mail.

1997Class agent: Rochelle [email protected]

Greg and Julie Adams are theproud parents of daughter LucyCampbell Adams, who was bornon August 24, 2000.

Svetoslav Nikov is working asan associate at J.P. Morgan inNew York City.

Tod Reinert published an arti-cle, “Practical Active CurrencyManagement for Global Equity

Alumni NOTES

27Fall /Winter 2000

Portfolios” in The Journal ofPortfolio Management (Summer2000). The article leverages ear-lier work of Georgetown profes-sor Richard Sweeney anddemonstrates the effectiveness ofan active currency hedging strat-egy in improving risk-adjustedreturn of globally diversifiedequity portfolios, relative tounhedged and passively hedgedbenchmarks. Tod can be reachedat [email protected].

Christopher Skelly and MollyMoosbrugger were married inWashington, D.C. on August12, 2000. The wedding wasattended by many Georgetownfriends, including KellyBrighton, Marty Brennan,Grace De Fries, Todd Gareiss,Rusty Heffner, Simon Hitzig,Brian Mannle, Megan Mulvi-hill, Jane Oyugi, FernandoTurmo, and Mark Wilcox.

Susan Thompson-Hoel isenjoying her new job as a stay-at-home mom with her son,Jackson Nicholas Hoel. Susanand her husband, John Hoel,welcomed Jack’s arrival on July2, 1999.

1998Class agent: Brian [email protected]

Several members of the Class of1998 recently attended the Fall2000 Virginia Gold Cup. Manythanks to Jane Dwyer andHeather Hunt for organizingthe event and the perfectweather for current students,alumni and friends (no smalltask). Attendees includedAndrea Stueve, Lisa Price, LiFan, Corina Ploscaru, NicoleFlavin, Steve Woo, JohnStokes, Mitchell Fenster andRene “The Bookie” Houle.

James Anderson is working asa principle at American Man-agement Systems, Inc. in Wash-ington, D.C.

Michael Canzian, lives inArlington, Va., and was recentlypromoted to the senior manage-ment team responsible forworldwide revenue operations,at BAE Systems–Regional Air-craft, Inc.

Nicole Flavin recently left Pepsito pursue a new career in grass-roots marketing to college stu-dents with The Varsity Group,based in Washington, D.C.

Rich Garodnick has been work-ing as a consultant at KurtSalmon Associates (KSA) inNew York. The majority of hiswork focuses on IT/merchan-dizing projects for clients in theapparel industry. In addition tothese job responsibilities, he alsorecently became the nationalstaffing director for his firm.

Chris Gergen is now CEO ofSmartthinking, a provider ofonline tutoring for college stu-dents. The company recentlyannounced that it has raised $5million in funding to enhanceeducational technology. Smart-thinking offers real-time supportin mathematics, economics,accounting, statistics and psy-chology.

Ana Martinez left her job atL’Oreal in New York to joinProcter & Gamble’s fine fra-grances division in Washington,D.C.

Mark Maruszewski recentlyjoined Pomona Capital, a privateequity firm based in New York.He and his wife, Alexandra,were married in Nantucket inMay 2000.

MBA

Reed Meyer has joined anothertelecom startup company inDenver, Colo.

Carolynn (McMeekin) Puffenow works as an associate forthe investment banking firm ofRobinson-Humphrey, anemerging growth arm ofSalomon Smith Barney. Shespecializes in the healthcareindustry. Carolynn and her hus-band, Michael, were married inMay 2000 in Jamaica.

Patrick Rau moved from ‘bigoil’ and Amerada Hess to joinING-Barings Bank as an equityresearch analyst in the chemicalsdivision. He has also begun tak-ing skating lessons to fulfill alifelong dream of learning howto play hockey.

Kamran Sistanizadeh isinvolved with an emergingInternet company, Yipes.com,which provides customers withincreased bandwith between theInternet and their local area net-works.

Jeffrey St. Claire is continuinghis work for the technologyinvestment banking practice atinvestment bank RobertsonStephens in San Francisco. Hereports he recently learned howto play the banjo.

Robert Walley works in Char-lotte, NC, for American Man-agement Systems, focusing onthe Internet-banking industry.He and his wife, Cindy, weremarried in July 1999.

1999Class agent: Mike [email protected]

Erik Gaull joined the adminis-tration of Washington, D.C.Mayor Anthony Williams inJuly 2000 in the operationalimprovements area.

2000The Class of 2000 is solicitinga new class agent. Please con-tact Elizabeth Shine [email protected] if inter-ested.

Amy Galgon and her husbandhave recently opened a restau-rant, Grapeseed, in Bethesda,Md.

Patrick Hanley is a member ofthe key management team atNext Wave Innovations.

Jenn Johnston, Vickie Koro-godon and Marco A. Gonzalezhave combined efforts to startBuck42.com.They are featured in the October 2000 issue ofWashington Business Forward.The article is about the DraperAtlantic/Netpreneur.org FastPitch, which was won by Buck42.com.They have launched a pro-motional web site and announceda partial list of their board ofdirectors.

Kenneth Starr has started hisjob as the e-commerce managerof product development at Fan-nie Mae. He and his wife, Olga,are moving into a new apartmentin Arlington, Va.

Dale Tzeng has recently changedjobs. He is now a product man-ager at Claritas in Rosslyn, Va.


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1996Class agent: [email protected]

Congratulations to Guy Abramo,who was recently appointed to thenewly-created position of chiefstrategy and information officerfor Ingram Micro Inc. (the largestglobal wholesale provider of tech-nology products and services).Ingram Micro combined infor-mation technology, and corporatemarketing and strategy into a sin-gle function that, under Guy’sleadership, is responsible for thecompany’s strategic businessdirection.

Thom Arnsperger has been busywriting this year; he co-authored achapter in McGraw-Hill’s Hand-book of Airline Operations titled:“Ready or Not, Here We Come:Airport Infrastructure and theTransition to Regional Jets.”Additionally, his work on airlineavionics user equipage cost waspresented to (and published by)the Airline Group of the Interna-tional Federation of OperationalResearch Societies at their 39thannual symposium.

Bhavana and J.C. Boggs are theproud new parents of a little girl,Kate Boggs.

Bill Oetgen went back to schooland will earn a B.S. in Account-ing from the University ofMaryland in December (I guesswe’ll need to add C.P.A. toM.D.). Dr. Bill is still very activeat Georgetown, where he hasbeen teaching a course to MBAstudents for the past three yearstitled: “The American Health-care Marketplace.”

In September Terri and PietroGerosa set up a new residencein Geneva, Switzerland. Terri isnow heading up the supportteam for Citigroup’s privatebanking business in Europe.Pietro is head of general affairsfor Swiss Broadcasting.

Some of the previous moves wemissed include: Marie Royce iswith Marriott International, theMarketplace, as their seniordirector, sales; Greg Spierkel isliving in Brussels and is seniorvice president & president,Ingram Micro Europe; GeneWaldenmaier in now with Car-olina Phone as their vice presi-dent of network operations; andFelicia Wilson is a senior man-ager at AOL.

1998Class Agent: Debbie [email protected]

Class agent Debbie Weil hasstarted her own business. Word-biz.com is a marketing and con-tent firm that helps startups andfast-growing companies telltheir story.

Michele Franck is now firstvice-president at BayerischeLandesbank, working on financ-ing of oil and gas projects in theCaspian region.

Mary Rose Szoka de Val-ladares was recruited as directorof business development devel-opment and government rela-tions for DCH Technology, apublic company that producesfuel cells and hydrogen sensors.

1999Class Agent: Alphonse Iudicelloa:[email protected]

The IEMBA Class of 99 hadtheir first official happy hour inOctober at Murali’s Restaurantin Washington, D.C..

Brenda Lang is living in Cleve-land, working for Pinkerton,a security company, and likes her job.

On October 16, 2000, Christo-pher Ford started his new posi-tion as senior director of lodg-ing finance at Marriott, Inc.,working in the asset manage-ment and development financeareas, and participating in con-tract assessments and analysisand valuation work on new unitdevelopment and acquisitionprojects.

John Nishimoto is closingsome other business and book-ing crazy revenues, accountingfor just under 30% of the entirecompany’s revenues. Needless tosay, things are going well.

Seth Grae and Jon Miller gottogether in Amsterdam, just afterJon got back from visiting Cyn-thia Loa in Brussels, whereSusan Klumpp was also visiting.

Karl E. Williams left Lockheedand has joined Vodium as theCOO. Vodium is a streamingmedia services company thathelps clients publish interactiveaudiovisual events on the web.

Richard Engh is having a blast atLucent coordinating amongR&D, engineering, product man-agement, and manufacturing.

Speaking of waiting and raisingmoney, Liz Blankenship and Iare still looking for a lot of moneyto recapitalize our company.

Jon Miller writes the following:“I feel that I am perhaps restedenough to proceed with my nextendeavor, embarking on my nextcareer. I have a multitude ofInternet listings, as well as exec-utive search service, at my dis-posal here. Anybody doing busi-ness in the EU is here in theNetherlands and that in itselfprovides many possibilities.” Jonwill be in the U.S. with wifeKatina over the holidays, andwe’re planning a get together onDecember 28 for anyone that’sinterested. Watch your e-mailsfor the time and place.

2000Class agent: Lynn [email protected]

Nicholas Davidson has joinedMcKinsey & Co. in London.

Lucy Fitch is now at BAE Sys-tems North as a vice president,in acquisitions and strategy. Sheand Dennis Morris are now withthe same firm.

Shawn Greene left Entremed,where he was director of genetherapy, to found LabBook, Inc.His firm makes software thatallows researchers to manage andanalyze large amounts of rawbiological information.

Eric Sklar has left Silicon Val-ley’s Technet to devote himselffull time to the launch of hisnewest company, Infohaze.

Alumni NOTES

Non Profit OrganizationUS Postage

P A I DWashington DC

Permit 3901

georgetown universitythe mcdonough school of businessold north buildingwashington dc 20057-1008

2000 msb magazine fall winter

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